ANC leaders who sleep on the job and shirk their responsibilities should step aside before they are removed.
The stark warning was delivered on Sunday by the ruling party’s newly elected secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula.
“Don’t do things that will make an enemy come in and come after us,” Mbalula told hundreds of the party’s faithful who gathered to mark the ANC’s 111 birthday celebrations in Komani.
“The time for playing is over. The PEC must do its job and not be afraid to take decisions.
“If a mayor is troublesome and you reach that decision, the mayor must go.
“If a region is not working, deal with that very fast.
“A person who can destroy ANC has not yet been born.
“Our comrades must not sleep on the job.
“A councillor must explain to the people the challenges they face in council and not wait for the people who will use people’s problems to fight the councillors.
“Yes, there are problems but we are fixing them.
“We can’t fix them if people elected to lead are not working.
“If you are not planning to work, step aside.
“Those who say the ANC [will not emerge victorious in 2024 government elections] must forget [it],” Mbalula said.
He told guests, who included senior national and provincial party officials, that positions, such as that of MEC, were not “decorations”.
“You are not just an MEC by name. MECs must be all over, and not be an MEC that is not known by the people.
“It must not take national to resolve problems in the province.
“Same applies to ministers who think they came with positions and are untouchables. Renewal says that is over.
“Don’t cry when the axe comes. Nobody will be spared.
“We are tired of hiring uneducated municipal managers.
“Some of them don’t even have matric. That is what the enemy is attacking us with.
“Our deployment policy has a problem. We hire people who have no expertise.
“In Eastern Cape, [premier Oscar] Mabuyane is leading progressing municipalities.
Referring to SA’s energy emergency caused by flagging state power utility Eskom’s inability to deliver sufficient electricity, Mbalula said the ANC’s mandate was to “end load-shedding”.
“The enemy is on its feet. They are protesting.
“It’s my first time seeing a political party protesting against another political party,” he said, referring to the DA’s planned march this week on the ANC’s headquarters, Luthuli House, to highlight the ruling party’s role in the power crisis.
“We cannot wake up tomorrow and march to the DA offices.
“We must do everything in our power to do away with load-shedding.
“What we will not tolerate is provocation by the Democratic Alliance, but we are tolerant [of] criticism.
“We call upon the DA to stop opportunism. The ANC offices are not Eskom.”
Addressing the need for skilled people to be appointed to senior jobs, he said: “We are going to write to the province and municipalities, requesting [the] skills of the people they hired.
“If not qualified, they must be removed.”
Members of the ANC’s national executive committee who attended Sunday’s gathering included Thulas Nxesi, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams and Andile Lungisa.
The party’s provincial leadership were also there.
Mabuyane told the gathering the existence of the ANC for another year would be “worthless if the organisation is a shell of its former self”.
“The people who are here don’t love us but the African National Congress.
“We expect nothing less but decisive action in driving [the] priorities of 2023 we were told about by the president, to fix the problem of electricity and boldly mobilising ... to ensure people get employment and services and fight crime and corruption.
“We agree, we don’t have time for people who sleep on the job.”
Nxesi, speaking for the ANC’s alliance partners, said corrupt comrades need to be identified “and taken out of the party”.
“Corruption is killing us. It sets comrades against each other.
“It undermines service delivery and siphons off much-needed resources for the poor ...
“Corrupt people need to be pointed [out] and taken out of the party.
“We must go back to the organisational basics ... we have to be with the people wherever they are and fight with them in their daily struggles.
“However difficult it is in the council, go to the people and talk to them, don’t do that when you need votes.”
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